Let’s rank the drama!
We have a situation on our hands. Rafael Devers voiced his opinions regarding playing first base the other night, and it’s quickly blown up into a big news-piece and showcased a fracture between Devers and the Red Sox front office.
This is messy and not good, but it’s not the first messy and not good situation the Red Sox have been involved in. When you’re a team that’s been around for over a hundred and twenty years, it’s not always gonna be smooth sailing. So where does the Raffy scandal stack up against some other notable Red Sox messes? Let’s take a look.
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- The Red Sox Trade Mookie Betts (2020): The consequences of this continue to reverberate, as many, many people keep wondering, “Why did they do that?”. Mookie has since remained an All-Star with another team, and the Red Sox have yet to reap any real benefits from that trade. It’s still widely regarded as one of the worst trades in sports history. Level of Scandal: 5/5.
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- Alex Cora Implicated With the Cheating Astros (2020): Cora admitted to playing a role in the sign-stealing operation and was removed from his role with the Red Sox, only for the team to rehire him in 2021. Unfortunately, there’s murkiness around whether or not Cora may have used some illegal techniques to help the Sox win in 2018 too. But given that this was much more of a scandal about the Astros first and foremost, it didn’t get as ugly for the Boston organization as it could have. Level of Scandal: 4/5.
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- The Entirety of Pablo Sandoval’s Tenure With the Team (2015-2017): This was just a bad contract that got even worse, with a player that nobody in Boston—from the fans to the front office—ended up liking. The plan to get a multi-time World Series winner wasn’t a bad one, but Sandoval and his crappy stat lines in a Red Sox uniform didn’t fit in with the team, the clubhouse, or with Boston as a whole. Sometimes that’s just what happens. Level of Scandal: 3/5.
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- The Chicken and Beer Scandal (2011): Ah, yes. While the 2011 Red Sox were struggling and losing their grip on a playoff spot, the pitchers were slacking off and pigging out in the clubhouse instead. A lot was going on behind the scenes that year, especially with Tito, who was dealing with marriage woes and couldn’t effectively rally the team behind him. To have this sort of thing happen to a sports team and then publicly come to light was a huge deal fourteen years ago, and resulted in a lot of changes going into the 2012 season, namely the departure of Tito, leading to… Bobby Valentine in instead. Level of Scandal: 5/5.
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- Big Papi Shows Up On 2003 Steroids List (2009): There was no concrete evidence to support acusations that David Ortiz did steroids other than his appearance on this list. Even the Hall of Fame voters, who are notorious for hating steroid-users, let him in, which tells you how this list is viewed. It still caused a real media stir when it was revealed though. Level of Scandal: 2/5.
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- The Red Sox Trade Nomar (2004): Nomar was so beloved in Boston that of course many people were devastated when he was traded. In the end, it was for the best, because the trade enabled the Red Sox to finally win a World Series for the first time in 86 years. It would’ve been just a little bit sweeter if we could have done it with him. Level of Scandal: 3/5.
- The Red Sox Trade Babe Ruth (1919): We all know what happened because of that. Granted, Babe Ruth didn’t become the legendary figure he is until he was on the Yankees, so you could say, “How could they have known?” but also, that was the Mookie Betts trade of last century. Level of Scandal: 5/5.
So where would you rate this Raffy drama compared to everything else that’s happened in Red Sox history? Was there any big scandal or dramatic moment that I neglected to mention? This is what came to mind for me. I’m hoping this Raffy stuff blows over and everything will be fine, but as these scandals indicate, some of this stuff has real blowback. At the moment, I’m rating this Raffy drama a 3/5. We’ll see if the ranking goes higher or lower than that in the long run.